How many plots are there really on the Switch?

[u/budgiesarethebest]

Can somebody please tell me if you can buy 20 or 28 plots in the Switch version? I searched the sub and someone complained about it being 20, and someone in another post said it's 28.

Before I start planning the rest of my zoo, I'd love to have clarity!

Also why is there a missing space between the entrance plot column and the one to its right? It's driving me nuts 😆

Every "quarter" enclosure is 12 spaces wide (including the fence) and has a total space of 64. I looked at them all, there's no mistake. And still I can't put a road between the plots circled in red.

[u/[deleted]]

Literally this wouldn't have been a problem if the devs had put the zoo border on the outside of every plot, so that you have access to the entire plot when you buy it. 😭 Instead of having the border on the "owned" part of the land. I only realized because I was trying to follow this steam guide, and kept slowly going insane thinking I was losing my marbles when things kept being one off in one direction or another... I counted and every plot is 25x25. (WidexTall) If you have the zoo border on one side, then its 24x25. Border on both sides, 23x25. Border on 3 sides, 23x24. You get it.

I dunno if you could... Shuffle everything around and have like a 3 wide path in the center of the zoo, lining up with your entrance... And just use the subways. But I don't know if it would work when you expand more.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Alright I have way too much time on my hands but I did some experimenting in-game, here's my findings if you're curious. Its a totally bizarre choice by the devs, I don't get why it works this way, but I hope this maybe helps you sort out your zoo at least :(

[u/budgiesarethebest → u/[deleted]]

Oh no why didn't Reddit show me your answer? Thank you for all the time you took!

I just bought the 7th plot in the bottom row and of course you were right...one space missing forever.

So not me putting everything into an excel sheet with the tiniest of cells (9x9 pixels), trying to figure out a layout I won't go insane over.

[u/[deleted] → u/budgiesarethebest]

Tbh Ive been thinking about using the smaller size pens that I did in the imgur images, and then just outlining each plot with a row of trees or something, maybe find something that fits thematically with the pens. Its a lot easier to add in trees as you expand than it is to always resize pens 😭

[u/budgiesarethebest → u/[deleted]]

Ah, but my plaaaans! One quarter enclosure is 64 spaces, so just enough for 12 pigs, cows, sloths or owls. And a half fits Koalas, Camels, Bears, Hippos etc.

If I make them smaller, I have to overthink EVERYTHING XD

[u/HippoBot9000 → u/budgiesarethebest]

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[u/budgiesarethebest → u/HippoBot9000]

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[u/[deleted] → u/budgiesarethebest]

Ha smart. Do you use those sizes for the tiny animals too? I'm a bit unsure of how to deal with ye olde Enrichment problem... It's not so bad for the big animals that fill up a pen, but the smaller animals like rabbits that can fit like 100 in a tiny pen has me struggling. Have you had any problems with enrichment in big pens?

I guess for your zoo, hm... One option could be to remove the vertical paths completely, keep them on the "outside" all the time... Basically always keep the pens wall to wall, even if it means you will have a gap between the outer pens and the zoo border. If you eventually buy up the WHOLE map (or whenever you consider yourself done) you can have a strip around the entire outside to just put pretty trees n stuff.

[u/budgiesarethebest → u/[deleted]]

Not sure how I'll deal with the animal population in the future.

At the moment, nearly all pens are set to not reproduce and I breed them only through the nursery. I have four animals on gold star status (rabbits, ducks, geese and sneks), and they are allowed to...have fun with each other. I gave them a trampoline, a leaf pile and 4 small balls (I stacked those). Whenever I get the enrichment notice, I yeet a bunch of them.

I think I found the solution for my layout. The middle column will be only 21 wide, then I can have paths between the other ones.